The B5078 is a useful road for the inhabitants of Alsager, Cheshire. It is their main route to the north-west (i.e. Sandbach) and also links the town with the M6. The road starts on the A533 at Chellshill (west of Rode Heath) and for obvious reasons is only adequately signposted for traffic heading south.
The road soon goes into cutting and passes underneath the Trent and Mersey Canal. The aqueduct is narrow and is therefore controlled by traffic lights. Lined by trees, the B5078 climbs up into farmland before passing Alsager Equestrian Centre on its right. Soon afterwards, it enters the scattered village of Church Lawton and almost immediately meets a road junction. Care needs to be taken here, as the B5078 TOTSOs right here, although the road signage does not make this clear.
After passing a few houses, the road becomes rural again for a short distance. It crosses the long-gone Stoke-on-Trent to Sandbach railway line (now a public footpath), although the bridge has been taken out to aid traffic flow. The road passes a wood to its left before crossing a stream by the Wilbraham Arms (the Wilbrahams being a prominent local family) and enters Alsager. After a few hundred yards, the road bends sharply left and travels along the eastern side of The Mere, a fairly sizeable lake, although the large houses adjacent to the road mean that there is very little public access to the water. Eventually, the B5078 meets the B5077 at a poorly signposted set of traffic lights adjacent to the Civic Centre.
The B5078 used to end at Alsager Civic Centre. However, with the extension of the A500 into Cheshire in the 1980s, the B5078 was also extended to meet the M6. It therefore multiplexes with the B5077 for over a mile westwards almost as far as Radway Green before heading off to the south at a set of traffic lights, a road in its own right once more.
After leaving Alsager, the B5078 passes the BAe Systems site at Radway Green before crossing the Stoke-on-Trent to Crewe railway line via a level crossing at the now-disused Radway Green station. Soon afterwards, it climbs to cross a bridge over the M6. On the other side, it passes through a wood before the old road to Barthomley turns off to the right. After this point, the B5078 was built new to reach the M6.
The new section of road is neither long nor noteworthy. It heads quickly for the roundabout at M6junction 16. Just before reaching the motorway, a service station is met on the right hand side, for which the B5078 is the only access. This service station is not signposted from the motorway, or indeed from the roundabout. The B5078 ends at junction 16 of the M6, where it also meets the A500.